County’s oil & gas heritage celebrated

Josh Cotton

Staff Reporter

jcotton@timesobserver.com

Warren County’s industrial heritage is closely linked to two major industries — timber and oil and gas.

One of the early booms of that oil and gas heritage will be celebrated with a Saturday event in Cherry Grove — Cherry Grove Old Home and Community Day.

The 137th anniversary of the 646 Mystery Well will be one of the highlights of that event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mystery Well replica located behind the Cherry Grove Fire Hall at 6045 Cherry Grove Road.

The event is free and open to the public.

“Located in southern Warren County, in the Pennsylvania Wilds, the hilltop settlement of Cherry Grove made national history in the Spring and Summer of 1882 when the Mystery Well on Lot # 646 ushered in a great oil boom,” according to the event’s website. “In a matter of months, hundreds of oil wells were drilled and a town sprang up in this isolated township in the hills. Before the railroad could lay a new line to Cherry Grove, the boom went bust. Thousands of people moved on. Those who remained kept the memory of the Oil Excitement alive with reunions that became known as ‘Old Home Day.'”

According to the event website, the replica well was built in 1982 and it was re-built in 2007 for the 125th anniversary of the boom.

Organizer Walt Atwood said the event would include a hiking tour down to the original site of the Mystery Well, located on private property. That’s set to run from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

He also said a presentation on oil field history will be part of the event. That’s set for 12:30 p.m.

Food will be available at the replica at noon and that there will be live music from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.